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The Wakhjir Pass (;〔Ludwig W. Adamec. Historical and political gazetteer of Afghanistan Vol. 1. Badakhshan Province and northeastern Afghanistan. Graz : Akad. Druck- und Verl.-Anst., 1972.p. 185.〕 ( کوتل وجیر ''Kōtal-e Vakhjīr'') also spelled Vakhjir Pass, is a mountain pass in the Hindu Kush or Pamirs at the eastern end of the Wakhan Corridor, the only pass between Afghanistan and China. It links Wakhan in Afghanistan with the Tashkurgan Tajik Autonomous County in Xinjiang, China, at an altitude of , but the pass is not an official border crossing point. The border has the sharpest official change of clocks of any international frontier (UTC+4:30 in Afghanistan to UTC+8, China Standard Time, in China). ==Overview== There is no road across the pass. On the Afghan side the nearest road is a rough road to Sarhad-e Wakhan (also known as Sarhad-e Broghil), about from the pass by paths.〔(J. Mock and K. O'Neil (2004): Expedition Report )〕 On the Chinese side there is a jeep track about from the pass, which leads through the Taghdumbash Pamir to the Karakoram Highway away. In the summer of 2009 the Chinese Ministry of Defence began construction of a new road to within of the border, for use by border guards.〔(Jamestown Foundation ''China Brief'' 7 January 2010 )〕 The pass is closed for at least five months out of the year and is open irregularly for the remainder of the year.〔(Townsend, J. (June 2005)'' China and Afghan Opiates: Assessing the Risk'' Chapter 4 ) 〕 Just below the pass on the Afghan side is an ice cave, at an altitude of . This is the source of the Wakhjir River, which ultimately flows to the Amu Darya (or Oxus). The cave is therefore claimed as a source of the Amu Darya. The terrain is extremely difficult, although Aurel Stein reported that the immediate approaches to the pass were "remarkably easy". There are few records of successful crossings by foreigners. Historically the pass was a trading route between Badakhshan and Yarkand used by merchants from Bajaor.〔 It appears that Marco Polo came this way, although he did not mention the pass by name. The Jesuit priest Benedict Goëz crossed from the Wakhan to China between 1602 and 1606. The next accounts are from the period of the Great Game in the late 19th century.〔Shahrani, M. Nazif. (1979) ''The Kirghiz and Wakhi of Afghanistan: Adaptation to Closed Frontiers and War'' University of Washington Press, Seattle, ISBN 0-295-95669-0; 1st paperback edition with new preface and epilogue (2002), ISBN 0-295-98262-4 p.27〕 In 1868, a pundit or Indian surveyor known as the Mirza, working for the Great Trigonometric Survey of India, crossed the pass.〔Shahrani, M. Nazif. (1979 and 2002) p.31〕 There were further crossings in 1874 by Captain T.E. Gordon of the British Army,〔Keay, J. (1983) ''When Men and Mountains Meet'' ISBN 0-7126-0196-1 p. 256-7〕 in 1891 by Francis Younghusband,〔Younghusband, F. (1896, republished 2000) ''The Heart of a Continent'' ISBN 978-1-4212-6551-3〕 and in 1894 by Lord Curzon.〔''Geographical Journal'' (July to September 1896) cited in (Mock and O'Neil 2004 Shipton Tilman Grant Application )〕 In May 1906 Sir Aurel Stein crossed, and reported that at that time the pass was used by only 100 pony loads of goods each way annually.〔Shahrani, M. Nazif (1979 and 2002) p.37〕 Since then the only westerner to have crossed the pass seems to have been H.W. Tilman in 1947.〔(Mock and O'Neil 2004 Shipton Tilman Grant Application )〕 In 1895 the pass was established as the border between China and Afghanistan in an agreement between the British and the Russians, although the Chinese and Afghans did not finally agree on the border until 1963.〔(International Boundary Study No. 89 (1969) ) US Bureau of Intelligence and Research〕 It is believed that in more recent times, the pass is sometimes used as a low intensity drug smuggling route, and is used to transport opium made in Afghanistan, to China. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Wakhjir Pass」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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